5 candidates seek to become next mayor of Berkeley
Five candidates are vying in Tuesday's election to replace outgoing Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín, who is leaving office and currently running for a state Senate seat.
The candidates include Adena Ishii, a former law clerk turned education consultant; management consultant Kate Harrison, who is a former Berkeley City Council member; Sophie Hahn, a current Berkeley City Council member; Naomi Pete, a retired assistant administrator; and Logan Bowie, a paralegal.
The race will be decided by the city's ranked choice voting system, so multiple candidates received endorsements from the same people or groups.
Ishii has so far raised about $35,000 and spent roughly $141,000 on her campaign, according to her disclosure forms. She is endorsed by state Sen. Nancy Skinner, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, former Berkeley mayor Tom Bates and Berkeley City Council members Rashi Kesarwani, Terry Taplin, Mark Humbert and Cecilia Lunaparra, among others.
She lists housing as one of her top priorities and says she supports strengthening tenant protections like just cause eviction rules and rent stabilization policies.
Ishii says she would "thoughtfully and appropriately" work to revise rules that make building affordable housing more difficult, including those that limit density and building heights.
To improve public safety, she says she supports quickly implementing the city's Reimagining Public Safety plan, increasing the availability of the Special Care Unit and Mobile Crisis Teams to seven days a week, 24 hours a day and addressing the Berkeley Police Department's understaffing issues, among other things.
"I'm running for mayor because it's time for a reset at City Hall," Ishii says in her candidate statement. "Two city council members resigned this year citing Berkeley's broken, toxic local government—the actual words they used when they resigned. I'm offering a fresh approach: finding compromise and bringing people together around common sense solutions."
One of Ishii's opponents, Harrison, resigned in January after seven years on the council, citing dysfunction in the city's bureaucracy, among other things.
"Berkeley's processes are broken, and I cannot in good conscience continue to serve on this body," Harrison said at the time, while also vowing to continue her run for the mayor's office.
So far, Harrison has raised about $30,000 and spent roughly $142,000. She is endorsed by several unions, including the influential Service Employees International Union Local 1021, Berkeley school board president Ana Vasudeo, councilmember Lunaparra, Berkeley Rent Board chairperson Leah Simon-Weisberg, and AC Transit board director Jovanka Beckles, who is also running for state Senate, among others, according to her campaign website.
While leaning heavily on her accomplishments as a councilperson, Harrison lists some of her priorities as affordable housing and adopting "21st century police policies," and she has spoken out against privatizing the city's waterfront and said that while on the City Council she helped increase spending on the waterfront area by $2.5 million a year.
She also said she helped find $8 million per year in the city's budget for road paving over the next two years without raising taxes.
"I will demand developers, U.C., and the county pay their fair share to address housing and homelessness, that your voices are heard and your money well-spent," she says in her candidate statement.
Current City Councilmember Sophie Hahn—who has so far raised about $122,000 and spent roughly $161,000 -- also touts her in-office accomplishments and the long list of public boards and commissions on which she's served over the years.
While on the council, she authored an ordinance to reduce the use of "throw away plastics" and another to allow outdoor dining during the COVID-19 pandemic.
She also authored the city's "Pathways Project, a blueprint for action that has resulted in hundreds of homeless neighbors being rehoused," according to her campaign website.
Hahn helped the city develop its first reserve fund, which resulted in its highest ever bond rating and helped avoid layoffs and service reductions during the pandemic, she said.
"As mayor, I'll amplify our leadership on social justice and the environment, while championing housing affordability, responding compassionately to homelessness and mental health crises, and keeping our community safe," she says in her ballot statement.
Hahn is endorsed by the outgoing mayor Arreguin, councilmembers Susan Wengraf, Ben Bartlett, Igor Tregub, Taplin and Humbert, as well as state Assemblymember Mia Bonta and Alameda County Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez, along with several unions, including SEIU Local 1021 and the Alameda County Building and Construction Trades Council.
Two of the candidates, Pete and Bowie, have vowed to raise and spend less than $2,000 on their campaigns.
"I am a multitalented, lifelong truth seeker and a natural leader," Bowie says in his ballot statement. "If elected, I would govern with the highest degree of integrity, honesty, and transparency feasible."
In her ballot statement, Pete says, in part, "I would like to see Berkeley get a fresh new look along with all those new apartments being built. Paint the City Hall Building, Berkeley High School and also paint the Police Station Building. And how about a water fall in the park behind the City Hall."